Next Governor Has No Wealth for Health

Health care funding bleeds the most when Louisiana’s budget is in the red. Since it appears the scalpel will be wielded for some time yet to come, how do gubernatorial candidates plan to stitch Louisiana’s health care together?

”I would accept the Medicaid expansion, and I would do it very early in my administration,” John Bel Edwards says, adding that it makes fiscal sense. “They’re our tax dollars that are going to other states.”

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David Vitter is more reserved about accepting the Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act.

“I have not taken off the table — I’ve been very clear about this — expanding coverage under the Medicaid program.” But, Vitter says he would set conditions for doing so.

Jay Dardenne says he would set up a task force.

“Under the current rules for the ACA, I would not take the federal dollars. But I will appoint a task force, charged with presenting to me a waiver proposal that we will submit to Washington to justify taking the money.”

“I believe there are opportunities for us to create waivers to submit to the federal government.”

Another complication is the privatization of the LSU Hospital System, which is not providing the cost savings initially promised. In fact, it appears to be needing an ever-increasing amount of the dwindling health care funding Louisiana has available.

Edwards, a Democrat, fought the privatization plans when they were presented to the Legislature. Scott Angelle, a Republican and a former member of Governor Bobby Jindal’s cabinet, defends the privatization.

“These partnerships have restored in many cases and exceeded the level of services formerly provided by the state cash-strapped system,” Angelle says.

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Higher education in Louisiana has been steadily dealt the budget axe, even as the state worked to grow its community and technical college system. How do the candidates for governor plan to fund higher ed, with continued budget shortfalls expected?

David Vitter says he’ll just put a halt to the problem.

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“Higher ed has been cut and cut and cut, that has to stop, pure and simple. That's why I would start my administration with a special session on spending reform and tax reform to stop that never-ending cycle of cuts.”

How are the candidates for governor planning to fix the state’s deficit—and what will that mean for the taxes you pay? Thus far, Scott Angelle, Jay Dardenne, John Bel Edwards and David Vitter have offered more generalities than specifics.

While campaign songs may be “so last century”, many of the same issues that prompted Huey Long to pen “Every Man a King” still plague Louisiana more than 80 years later. A line in the song says, “There’s enough for all people to share,” yet Louisiana’s on-going budget problems contradict that sentiment. For the men who would be king -- the candidates for governor – the state’s budget problems dwarf everything else.

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“The budget is going to be the first, second and third topics for the next governor to deal with,” Louisiana Budget Project director Jan Moller says, noting last year’s budget, the current budget, and next year’s budget are all in the red.